Truck's bed is poorly made....

[Maximus Gladius]

Though the F-150 bed has been aluminum for a while now, so I wouldn't try this there either.

Don’t forget, it’s been advertised as “military grade aluminum”. . It’s gotta be waaaay better than civilian grade.

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[Minty JL]

Yeah you can only expect so much out of single layer sheet metal. The second you drilled through it you should have know it was not adequate for the task.

 

[BlueScapegoat]

Metalcloak also has a rear track bar that fits up to a 38” spare

https://metalcloak.com/jt-gladiator-rear-durotrak-track-bar.html

How does that work? My 37 has to get pressed in between the frame rails as it is to fit. Which, coincidentally, also clears the stock track bar. I guess you could air it down

 

[DailyMoparGuy]

How does that work? My 37 has to get pressed in between the frame rails as it is to fit. Which, coincidentally, also clears the stock track bar. I guess you could air it down

I’m not sure to be honest because have 35s and their old straight rear track bar. I just noticed MC added a bent bar version recently.

 

[TroutFishingInAmerica]

This would be the cheapest and easiest option. Get a easy rider gun rack, throw some antlers and beer cans in the back, leave the holes just like they are. Conceptual art.

Conceptual art: Art in which the idea or concept presented by the artist is considered more important than its appearance or execution.

Nailed it!

I have no clue where this shit comes from, it's like unboxing a mystery box nonstop. Hey, I make myself laugh, that's all that really matters.

 

[mx5red]

This would be the cheapest and easiest option. Get a easy rider gun rack, throw some antlers and beer cans in the back, leave the holes just like they are. Conceptual art.

Conceptual art: Art in which the idea or concept presented by the artist is considered more important than its appearance or execution.

Nailed it!

I have no clue where this shit comes from, it's like unboxing a mystery box nonstop. Hey, I make myself laugh, that's all that really matters.

I love it

 

[ecidiego]

Don’t forget, it’s been advertised as “military grade aluminum”. . It’s gotta be waaaay better than civilian grade.

Like contractor grade parts for a house.

Lol

 

[ShadowsPapa]

Like contractor grade parts for a house.

Lol

And those are usually cheap to get a house built and sold fast and cheap.

 

[Rusty Shackleford]

Don’t forget, it’s been advertised as “military grade aluminum”. . It’s gotta be waaaay better than civilian grade.

And those are usually cheap to get a house built and sold fast and cheap.

Speaking from experience as a project manager for a custom home builder, that is spot on. It’s all about maximizing profit for a tract home builder so the cheapest stuff gets installed. Custom is slightly better as long as the homeowner picks out decent products.

Speaking from experience as a member of the military for 14 years so far; I don’t know what military grade is haha. It’s either cheapest bidder wins or whatever company government officials have bought more stock in. Typically military equipment is decent but will weigh more and not function as well as other commercially available options.

Those marketing folks get paid good money to spin things because people generally think that construction is tough and the military looks cool.

 

[Alan_Hepburn]

Speaking from experience as a member of the military for 14 years so far; I don’t know what military grade is haha. It’s either cheapest bidder wins or whatever company government officials have bought more stock in. Typically military equipment is decent but will weigh more and not function as well as other commercially available options.

Back when I worked in the semiconductor industry we had commercial grade products and military grade products. They were identical, physically - to become "military" grade there was a bunch of extra testing that we had to perform. Most of the testing had to do with power supply ratings: the commercial product had to pass all the specs with +/- 5% power supply (4.75VDC-5.25VDC) while the military product had a 10% tolerance (4.5VDC-5.5VDC) on the power supply. The commercial product also had an operating temperature range of 0 degrees C to +70 degrees C while the military product had an operating temperature range of -55 degrees C to +125 degrees C.

 

[ShadowsPapa]

Back when I worked in the semiconductor industry we had commercial grade products and military grade products. They were identical, physically - to become "military" grade there was a bunch of extra testing that we had to perform. Most of the testing had to do with power supply ratings: the commercial product had to pass all the specs with +/- 5% power supply (4.75VDC-5.25VDC) while the military product had a 10% tolerance (4.5VDC-5.5VDC) on the power supply. The commercial product also had an operating temperature range of 0 degrees C to +70 degrees C while the military product had an operating temperature range of -55 degrees C to +125 degrees C.

I used to do consulting and other work (network, servers, etc.) for Cementech.
They had just gotten a military contract for their concrete handling equipment and the CFO was really proud of that fact and showed me around a bit and showed some of the new equipment they had to buy to pass muster - including measuring the thickness and hardness of the paints used, special provisions for wiring harnesses and more.
Reminded me of the control systems we shipped to Eastern Europe and other places for use by Gazprom. They had tough specs but then when you operate in the heat of the Middle East or the cold of Siberia..........

 

[Rusty Shackleford]

Back when I worked in the semiconductor industry we had commercial grade products and military grade products. They were identical, physically - to become "military" grade there was a bunch of extra testing that we had to perform. Most of the testing had to do with power supply ratings: the commercial product had to pass all the specs with +/- 5% power supply (4.75VDC-5.25VDC) while the military product had a 10% tolerance (4.5VDC-5.5VDC) on the power supply. The commercial product also had an operating temperature range of 0 degrees C to +70 degrees C while the military product had an operating temperature range of -55 degrees C to +125 degrees C.

Thanks for the firsthand knowledge! It’s good to hear that they actually do some different testing. I can’t imagine anything in my line of work (aviation) getting up to 125C. Our jets don’t seem to like anything over 90F but they are ancient . A quick example of what I was talking about: we had rugged laptops that probably cost WAYYY too much money to procure. Those were phased out for iPads. It would be interesting to have someone familiar with the aluminum industry chime in. I can’t imagine there’s a difference between military aluminum and car aluminum.

 

[Vtur]

So, are the Gladiator's bed considered as a military, commercial or consumers product?

 

[HooliganActual]

After getting the truck new, I installed the lift and tires only to figure out that the 37" wouldn't really fit under the bed anymore without making a few tweaks.

The only tweak I made to fit my 37" Toyo R/T's under the bed was to air it down to about 20#.

I mean, feel free to spend money on redoing the bed mount, or getting a hitch carrier, or one of the bent track bars; but a cheap option would be to air your spare down and try seeing if it will fit...

 

[ShadowsPapa]

Thanks for the firsthand knowledge! It’s good to hear that they actually do some different testing. I can’t imagine anything in my line of work (aviation) getting up to 125C. Our jets don’t seem to like anything over 90F but they are ancient . A quick example of what I was talking about: we had rugged laptops that probably cost WAYYY too much money to procure. Those were phased out for iPads. It would be interesting to have someone familiar with the aluminum industry chime in. I can’t imagine there’s a difference between military aluminum and car aluminum.

The alloys may be different. You rarely see pure aluminum. Like stainless steel - there's different grades cheap to good. Some stainless will actually corrode.

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